OK, so if you choose an expensive full-pay school your parents will pay. But they prefer that you consider less expensive options. So why don’t you apply to some expensive options as well as more affordable schools. I wouldn’t apply ED to the full-pay schools. Maybe you won 't be accepted at the top places, which would help you make a decision.
NPCs are notoriously incorrect (they were off by more than $10K for some of my son’s colleges).
What I suggest is:
- Confirm in your own mind whether you will be a burden or whether it is a cost that they expected to bear and will bear. If they want to pay, it is not a burden. If a parent loses their job, well, then you regroup. If they pay $200K for four years of college at MIT, you get to play sports for MIT, you get an MIT degree, why not let them?
- If they can’t afford it, the question is moot.
In either case, don’t apply early unless you are really really sure they can afford that college with no aid at all. Being only eligible for 5K - 10K means that a school might give half or less of that.
If they can afford it, apply early if your prospective coach wants you to. And accept they can spend their money as they want to. Parents can multiply numbers by 4.
If you don’t think any education is worth 200K, then go to UT and get as much scholarship money as you can.
My D also has the stats for JHU and the like but she knows that she has two younger brothers that will have similar stats and there is no way we can pay for expensive privates for all of them. The kids are all 2 years apart so for four years we will have two in college at the same time but still won’t qualify for need based aide. Thankfully my children understand that they need to go to schools that offer them MERIT if you truly don’t want to be a burden to your parents then take their advice and go to UT or A&M. If you want to leave Texas and are NMF go to OU or UA or UCF or UK… Its your choice if you want to be a burden on your parents!
And if you are a pre-med, ask your parents if the money saved by going to a less expensive school can be used on medical school costs.
We all want champagne at beer prices.
You do realize if the first goes to an expensive private, and your resources are depleted, your EFC decreases?
It does depend on whether your income or your assets affect your EFC more. We are using home equity, so our EFC will decrease as we pay out.
Apply to your dream schools unless your parents tell you they won’t pay.
Apply to schools like Case Western, Tulane and USC where you will likely recieve a merit scholarship.
Apply to UT and A&M-apply to honors programs.
Don’t apply ED. It sounds like your parents want to compare COA packages.
Look, I’m a parent. I hear you. I really do. I have a kid who grew up hearing about kids who get “full rides” to great amazing Ivy League schools (I guess she read this in school newspapers, etc.?). She always thought her hard work, grades, scores, etc. would get her there. HUGE reality check this year when we all learned together that those schools offer very little reward /merit aid. If you are low income or have had a huge hardship and worked hard, you can get a great ride. But for normal Joe middle to upper middle class with good scores and hard work = it’s not going to happen unless you take out a TON of loans. It is not worth it. At all. $60K a year is an insane amount of money. Do not do that to your parents and do not guilt them for not sacrificing their retirement to afford those schools.
You are in Texas? SO fortunate. A&M or UT Austin are amazing schools. They will be affordable for you and for your family. You will have a GREAT experience and at the end of the day (or four years!) you will be Mr. Engineer or Mr. Doctor just like anyone who went to an Ivy. A family member of mine is a physician who went to be A&M and then Baylor Med School in Texas. He had a great experience at both schools and I’m pretty sure they call him “Dr” just the same as they call the physician who went to any of the schools you named.
You will be fine. You have your dreams tied up in a name and an experience. Time to narrow that down and go have a great experience.
Why not look at SMU? Good school, you would make great connections that will help you the rest of your life, and if you are as good as you think you are, they have a great merit-based scholarship program you can apply for.
@rhandco the family contribution is driven mostly by income…not assets.
@thumper1 - It depends on the school. If you are looking at a school that uses institutional methodology for aid and you have a lot of home equity, it can hurt you because they assume you can take out a home equity loan.
^^ there is no institution where assets are MORE important than income.
that’s what Thumper was saying.
Look at her post count CollegeDadofTwo-
she’s been here a loooooooooooooooooooooong time and knows of what she speaks.
Oh I agree with that statement. I am just saying that you may get burned with home equity at an IM school and have a higher EFC than you expect.
Yes…but at a certain income level, you aren’t going to see need based aid anyway…regardless of your home equity. Home equity is capped in some way at most schools.
And home equity is considered an asset…with a very different %age of assessment than income. Income is much higher.
Which is why I am not applying for any promotions at work for the next three years:)
^^^
Are you serious? Please tell me that you’re kidding. There are so many, many reasons why avoiding income increases is a bad idea, but here’s a few:
-
any income increase won’t immediately change your EFC. EFC is based on the previous year’s income.
-
100% of an income increase does not go to EFC. At most, maybe 33% of it does.
-
If you stagnate your income for 3 years, it hurts you in the long run for a variety of possible things: pension, 401k contribution amounts, income won’t keep up with inflation, and probably most importantly, raises tend to be given as on a % basis. You always want your base to be as big as possible, and over the rest of your working life, losing those 3 years of salary increases can hurt you a LOT in the long run. You want growth every year.
You’d long feel the “punishment” of not going after those salary increases as soon as you can, and as often as you can.
Example 40 year old employee - intends to work for 20 more years
$100,000 income in 2015 with 3% raises annually for 20 years....(age 40 to age 59)
40 $100,000.00 $3,000.00 $103,000.00
41 $103,000.00 $3,090.00 $106,090.00
42 $106,090.00 $3,182.70 $109,272.70
43 $109,272.70 $3,278.18 $112,550.88
44 $112,550.88 $3,376.53 $115,927.41
45 $115,927.41 $3,477.82 $119,405.23 <= Age 45 salary has increased by nearly $20k annually
46 $119,405.23 $3,582.16 $122,987.39
47 $122,987.39 $3,689.62 $126,677.01
48 $126,677.01 $3,800.31 $130,477.32
49 $130,477.32 $3,914.32 $134,391.64
50 $134,391.64 $4,031.75 $138,423.39 <= Age 50 salary has increased by over $38k annually
51 $138,423.39 $4,152.70 $142,576.09
52 $142,576.09 $4,277.28 $146,853.37
53 $146,853.37 $4,405.60 $151,258.97
54 $151,258.97 $4,537.77 $155,796.74
55 $155,796.74 $4,673.90 $160,470.64
56 $160,470.64 $4,814.12 $165,284.76
57 $165,284.76 $4,958.54 $170,243.31
58 $170,243.31 $5,107.30 $175,350.61
59 $175,350.61 $5,260.52 $180,611.12 <= Age 59 salary has increased by over $80k annually
$100k income stagnated for 3 years, and then 3% raises
40 $100,000.00 $0,000.00 $100,000.00
41 $100,000.00 $0,000.00 $100,000.00
42 $100,000.00 $0,000.00 $100,000.00
43 $100,000.00 $3,000.00 $103,000.00
44 $103,000.00 $3,090.00 $106,090.00
45 $106,090.00 $3,182.70 $109,272.70 <= Age 45 salary has only increased by about $10k annually
46 $109,272.70 $3,278.18 $112,550.88
47 $112,550.88 $3,376.53 $115,927.41
48 $115,927.41 $3,477.82 $119,405.23
49 $119,405.23 $3,582.16 $122,987.39
50 $122,987.39 $3,689.62 $126,677.01 <= Age 50 salary has only increased by less than $27k annually
51 $126,677.01 $3,800.31 $130,477.32
52 $130,477.32 $3,914.32 $134,391.64
53 $134,391.64 $4,031.75 $138,423.39
54 $138,423.39 $4,152.70 $142,576.09
55 $142,576.09 $4,277.28 $146,853.37
56 $146,853.37 $4,405.60 $151,258.97
57 $151,258.97 $4,537.77 $155,796.74
58 $155,796.74 $4,673.90 $160,470.64
59 $160,470.64 $4,814.12 $165,284.76 <= Age 59 salary has only increased by about $65k annually
Obviously if the person intends to work 25-30 more years (instead of only 20), the differences would be even greater.
“It does depend on whether your income or your assets affect your EFC more. We are using home equity, so our EFC will decrease as we pay out.”
Only if it is a school that considers home equity as an asset. FAFSA does not. Many CSS schools do not consider a certain amount of equity in the primary residence as an asset that can be tapped. Your EFC will only go down if you go to one of the schools that does not give an allowance for the primary residence or if your home equity is over that allowance given and you borrow enough to take you under that allowance. I don’t think that happens all that often.
^^How do you determine which schools use only FAFSA rather than CSS? Is there a list?
Check each school’s financial aid web site to see what it needs.
@OspreyCV22 You need to be aware that FAFSA-only schools tend not to give great aid, so you may find yourself with less aid.